The Death of Renji Abarai
by TheCatWithTheHat
Summary: Demi-Sequel to Lost and Forgotten. Has anyone ever wondered how our favorite vice-captain was killed? Well, I sure have. So I decided to write this little ONESHOT for all of my fellow wonderers.


**A/N: HEY! I have always wondered how Renji died. So here you are! Plus, a bit of background on Ronin's hate for that "good-for-nothing squad six fukutaicho". Heh. **

**Disclaimer: Bleach and all its characters and property belong to Tite Kubo and Viz Media. **

The head of the Suzuki family had a wife.

His wife - well, she was very pregnant when this story starts. She was American - had been born there and had moved to Japan when she was ten years old. Her name was Sarah. Mr. Suzuki's first name was known only by himself, his mother and his father. He had been going by Suzuki, and then Mr. Suzuki, for as long as he could remember. Not even his wife knew it.

Sarah and Mr. Suzuki were expecting their first child. The whole family was celebrating. The Suzukis were a very rich family, and very noble. Very prideful. This new baby was to be the head of the Suzukis after his father's death. He was still unborn, but so much responsibility was already on his tiny shoulders. Everything about this baby needed to be just perfect. There was no question in the mind of any Suzuki that it would be.

But it wasn't.

The baby was born. It was a private birth - if you could call it private. Most of the baby's close relatives were there - as well as some distant ones - all from the father's side. The room was hot and smelled like blood and death and unwashed old people. The commotion was such that the snipping of the umbilical cord went by unnoticed, and before anyone saw that child, he was carried away by the nurse to be sure he was a healthy baby.

They returned a half hour later. Most of the relatives had dissipated. Remaining was Mr. Suzuki's parents and the new parents themselves.

The baby boy was laid in his mother's arms. The parents - all four - stilled their breath for a moment.

"Is there - is there still blood in his hair?" Suzuki Sr. asked.

"No, sir," said the nurse. "Isn't he just the most precious little thing you ever saw?"

Horrified, the Suzukis all gazed down at the baby boy in his mother's arms. His tiny mouth was sucking on her breast, his fingers clenching and unclenching. His little feet rested on her still-swollen belly. And his tuft-y red hair floated on her collar bone.

Ruby.

Blood.

Garnet.

Red.

"This..." Suzuki Sr. murmured. Mrs. Suzuki pressed a hand to her mouth.

"We can't have an heir with hair like this!"

**!**

It was a scandal. The new baby's hair was completely unacceptable. Everyone knew about it, and everyone talked.

The boy was named Jonathan after Sarah's father. It was a sturdy name. Very American, like Sarah. Very nice for the head of the Suzuki family. They all settled for praying that the boy's hair would change colors. And quickly.

But it didn't.

Jonathan grew. Past his first birthday, then his second. His hair did not change colors. In fact, it slowly grew worse. The Suzukis grew frantic. With each passing day, they grew more and more desperate for ideas. And finally, the Suzukis had had enough.

"Jonathan has got to disappear," Suzuki Sr. said grimly.

Sarah was distraught. She loved Jonathan with every fiber of her being, and her favorite way to pass the time was to watch her son play. In Jonathan's mind, the large gardens in the Suzuki estate were his own world, and he would run about happily for hours, his red hair glimmering in the sun. This was the only time he was allowed to be without cover - one temporary solution the Suzukis had found was to keep Jonathan's hair under a hat at all times. Not even the hairdresser was allowed to see it. So it grew long, tied up with a string at the top of his head. It got to the point that Sarah began to call her little son "Renji".

"Renji," she'd say, "come on and have some tea." Or, "Renji, it's time for dinner! Please get Miss Eiko to help you wash up!"

Eiko Abarai was Jonathan's nanny. She always wore her hair up in a headscarf, and no one quite knew what color it was. She had a daughter at home who was eleven and also usually wore her head bound in a cloth. She also watched Jonathan when her mother and Sarah were both busy. Her name was Kaori.

Behind the scenes, the male Suzukis decided that once and for all, something needed to happen. But then, Sarah became pregnant again, and a new baby was born. With dark hair. The family rejoiced. Jonathan was pushed out sideways from the picture. The only one who still cared about what he said or did was Eiko Abarai. To everyone else he was a stain on the family tree.

But Jonathan's fourth birthday was the last straw.

On that day, no one mentioned anything. No one bothered to celebrate. The new baby, Ronin, was turning one soon, and everyone was preparing. Jonathan's own birthday was completely ignored.

The next morning, Jonathan Suzuki was gone.

Suddenly, everyone wanted to see him. To cuddle him. Coddle him. Tell him what a precious little child he was. Aunts dabbed at teary eyes. Great-aunts babbled to anyone who would listen. Great-great aunts turned in their graves, as did great-great-great aunts. Cousins prayed. The lesser men went out and searched, while the higher-ups silently rejoiced that the child had disappeared without them needing to so much as lift a finger. It was all over the papers. Papers being read by people all over the country.

One of these people was Eiko Abarai.

"Humph," she muttered, shaking out the paper. "The way they're talking, they make it sound like they treated him right! Like they treated him like the next head! Don't you agree, Kaori?"

"Yes," said her daughter angrily. "You did the right thing, Mom."

They glanced at the seat next to them, where a little boy lay sleeping. He was wearing a short gray tunic, which accented his ruby red hair. As they watched, he opened his eyes and sat up, looking around the train.

"Miss Eiko?" he asked. "Where are we?"

"I'm taking you away from there," Eiko said. "Okay, Jon?"

"Okay," said Jon. He thought of his mom; of her sweet, affectionate nickname, and the way she'd dropped him like a broken toy when her belly had swelled and the new baby had come. He thought he probably wouldn't miss her.

Eiko smiled.

Then there was a loud crashing noise. A high pitched whistle filled their ears, and the screech of metal on metal. There wasn't even time to scream. The compartment tumbled over and over and everything went black.

**!**

Kaori opened her eyes.

Her mother was lying a few feet away. Her face was bloody. Her headscarf had been torn off, and her garnet-red hair was lying, spilled, over the dead earth. Kaori scrambled over.

"Mom?" she said fearfully. "Mom?"

Her mom's eyes opened. "Kaori! What happened? Where's Jon?"

Kaori tried to breathe a sigh of relief when she realized her mom was alright, but found she couldn't. Panic rising, she clutched at her windpipe for a moment, but then discovered that no pressure was building. Confused, she felt for her pulse.

There was nothing.

Her eyes rose to her mom's. Her mother seemed to be glowing. They reached the same conclusion within seconds of each other.

"JON?" they yelled. "JONATHAN!"

There was no reply.

**!**

Jonathan sat up. He rubbed his eyes. There was a man standing in front of him with a big black robe and a stick in his belt. Wait, it wasn't a stick. It was a sword.

"Hello," said the man.

"Are you a ninja?" Jon asked, because if it wasn't for the very long blond hair, he would look just like one. Ninja was one of Jon's favorite games. He played it all the time. He knew exactly what ninjas looked like.

"Nah." The man smiled. Jon could clearly see each tooth. "But if ya hold still, I'll be a captain." He drew his sword.

"I'm not supposed to talk to strangers," said Jon, unsure.

The man sighed. His blond hair billowed behind him as he squatted down to Jon's level. "Look, kid, I hate to be tha one ta break this to ya, but... yer dead. You can talk to whoever ya want." He stuck out his hand. "I'm Shinji Hirako, assistant captain a' tha fifth company, out on tha captain's test. And you are...?"

Jon took the man's hand. "My name is Renji Abarai."

**!**

_What happened next:_

_Renji was accepted into the Soul Society and we all know what happened after that. _

_Ronin Suzuki, Renji's younger brother, became pretty problematic. To the horror of the Suzuki's, his hair began to turn red, and by the time he was ten, it was of equal shade to his brother's. By that time, however, hair dye had been invented, and Ronin had reached legal dyeing age. He dyed his hair dark on his family's command until his death at age eighteen in an "accident". _

_Eiko and Kaori, who had never been found by Assistant Captain Hirako, basically wandered back to the Suzuki estates because that was where they knew their way around. They were joined by Ronin eighteen years later, and a passing Soul Reaper took pity on them and sent the trio on. They were accepted into the Soul Society, and a little more than one hundred years later, Ronin developed powers and was enrolled in the Shinigami Academy. His first semester had just finished when he met Sadako, and to know more, you should probably read_ Lost and Forgotten.

_Thank you for your time. _


End file.
